Apparatus for the wet dressing of sulfid ores.



B, 8. SMITH.

APPARATUS FOR THE WET DRESSING OF SULfiD ORES, APPUCATION FILED FEB. 11, 1913.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

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APPARATUS FOR THE WET DRESSING OF SULFID ORES.

Application filed l ebrnaryll, 1913. Serial No. 747,646.

. To all whom it may concern paratus for the wet dressing of sulfid ores,

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN 'Snnonnr SMITH, subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at 9 J ainieson street,

Sydney, New'South Wales, Australia, have .invented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for the Wet Dressing of Sulfid Ores, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improved apand is more particularly concerned with a type of a paratus employing a concentrator, combine with means by which the ore is graded and from which it passes to the con .oentrator in such a manner that the finer I metalliferous products will be permitted to float without interference from the naturally submergible portions of the ore.

In a preferred form of my invention, I interpose between the grading means and the concentrator, suitable means for checking the momentum of the ore particles which fall to the concentrator from the grading means.

Several forms of my invention are illustratively exemplified in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure l is a sectional elevatioiial view of one form of the invention; Fig. 2 is a similar view of a modified form in which the ore grading means is curved; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional elevational view illus trating a modified form of invention in which a plurality of concentrators is set. in vertical-echelon order in relation to the grading means; and Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view, parts being broken away, in

which a grading screen is arranged across a plurality of concentrators arranged in lateral order.

he present invention is not concerned construction of the con.

of concentrator in the form' of'a table or flume carrying a flowin body of liquid on to which finely ground ore is dusted or sprinkled or fed (gently and the submerged product separate effective means.

' In the form of concentrator shown, a film or thln sheet of water flows rapidly over an inclined table the water feed head box being fitted with a squirt lip to accelerate the water flow; at the foot is a sump box terminating below in a take ofi pipe with from the fiotage by any should be of ii suitable valve; the distant side of this box forms a weir over which the water carrying the float stufi' flows.

Throughout this specification the concentrator has been described as an apparatus operated by flowing water, butit is my in tention that it be construed to include also any such concentrator in which mobile liquids other than water are used, oraqueous solutions of salts are used, so long as such ,poncentrator be of the type in which the separation sought is obtained by the flotation of one portion of the ore substance and the submergence of other portions thereof. Similarly the term water wherever used in this specification shall be construed to include mobile liquids or solutions of salts usuable in the types of concentrator described.

cferring to Figs. 1 and 2, 1 is the-concentrator which as shown consists of an inclined table over which water flows evenly from head to foot without turbulence. At the head a Water box 3 with squirt lip 4 is fitted for the purpose 0t distributing across the width of the concentrator the inflowing water which is received through the valved pipe The surface stratum of waterwhich carries the floats passes over the weir of the concentrator while the lower stratum of water carrying with it the submerged material passes into the sump box 6 and away through a pipe '7 which is fitted with a suitable valve 8. The sump box 6 is constructed to the full width of the concentrator. 18 is a hopper into which the mill productis delivered and from which the same is passed on to the upper end of the inclined grading screen 9 or onto the upper end of the curved screen 9*. The bottom Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

of this screen is clothed with wire gauze and proved means (not shown) well-known in this art.

The wire gauze clothing on the screen 9 the screen than toward the foot thereof but if the feed be thick or if the angle of inclination of the screen be high the screen will differentiate the ore particles and pass the finer particles first and the relatively coarser particles at a later stage.

ner gage toward the head of.

The course of the water flow is indicated by the arrow, Fig. 1, and itwill be observed that the finer particles which pass through the screen near the head thereof drop into the concentrator down stream while the coarser particles fall into the concentrator nearer the head thereof. successively in order of size of particles.

In Figs. 1 and 2, 14:, 15, 16 and 17 are distributing screens below the grading screen; the distributing screens 14 to 17 form the bottom of compartments which preferably are subdivided by transverse partitions 19 and they are located just above the Water surface so that ore particles falling through them will not acquire any considerable momentum before they come in contact with the water. These distributing screens may be clothed with wire gauze of varying mesh corresponding with the grade of ore falling onto different parts of them, or they may be clothed with gauze of a uniform mesh so long as the mesh be fine enough to arrest momentarily the falling ore particles and thereafter permit them to fall gently through the gauze onto the Water surface immedi- I ately below.

When the grading screen 9 is curved as shown in Fig. 2 it is not essential to clothe it with different gages of gauze; clothing with a uniform gage of gauze will operate quite satisfactorily in the case of a curved screen, because the screen will differentiate the ore particles and pass only the very finest near the head and so on in order to the coarse particles near the tail of the screen,

- the several distinct grades of particles fallfall according to their gage into the several concentrators respectively and are separately treated therein. The screen 9 shownjntltis figure may have fitted to it distributing screens 23 such as described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2. The speed of the water through the several concentrators 20, 21 and 22 may be varied to best suit the treatment of the particular gage of ore delivered by arating table provided with means for flow- Y ing liquid therethrough, a screen thereover adapted to deliver a predetermined size of material to .the table, a distributing screen close to and parallel with the surface of the liquid on the table, interposed in the path of material dropping from the primary screen and adapted to break the momentum thereof.

2. In combination, a plurality of surface tension separating tables provided with means for flowing liquid therethrough, an inclined screen traversing the head ends of the separating tables and adapted to deliver progressively difl'erent sizes to the successive tables, and an intermediate distributing screen interposed in the path of each grade from the primary screen, parallel and close to the surface of the liquid in each table.

' In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signaturein presence of two Witnesses.

BENJAMIN SEDGELY SMITH.

Witnesses:

S. BECK,

IV. I. DAVIS. 

